(Adds Swedish statements) By David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The European Union urged all parties involved in Darfur on Wednesday to work for a swift transition to a U.N.-led peacekeeping force and called on rebel groups to participate constructively in talks later this week. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said talks due to start on Friday in Arusha, Tanzania and aimed at getting about a dozen rebel factions to agree on a platform for negotiations with the government were a crucial step towards peace. "I call on all invited parties to participate in a constructive way, so that a political settlement can be found and ensure the lasting stabilisation of Darfur," Solana said in a statement. Solana asked all sides to work for a swift transition from the current African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to a 26,000-strong force authorised this week by the United Nations. The EU provides planning and logistics support to the AMIS mission. An EU official said the bloc as a whole had no plans to send a new force to Darfur under the U.N. plan, but some of the 27 EU member states were considering contributions. SWEDISH, NORWEGIANS, DANES, DUTCH, FRENCH In a statement, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Sweden and Norway were looking to contribute a unit. The Swedish military said the outfit was envisioned as an engineering team of up to 350 personnel tasked with building roads and other infrastructure, not a combat unit. It would be conditional on solid protection and a strong U.N. mandate. "The crucial issue is to find a political solution to the conflict, in which grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law have become everyday occurrences," Bildt said. Danish Defence Minister Soren Gade did not rule out sending troops, but was quoted on Web site of daily Jyllands-Posten newspaper as saying: "That we would contribute an entire battalion would be for many reasons totally unrealistic." The Netherlands said it considering contributing financially, materially or with troops. But a foreign ministry spokesman said any contingent could not be of the same size as that in Afghanistan, where there are about 2,000 Dutch troops. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France had "offered its services", but the majority of troops needed to make a up a shortfall in African soldiers would come from Asia. "We need a political settlement, the rebel groups to return to the negotiating table, and the Sudanese government to accept the political settlement," he told RTL radio. Nigeria, which already has three battalions of troops in Darfur, said President Umaru Yar'Adua had approved deployment of a fourth expected to head for the region by October. A battalion is a unit usually made up of 500-1,000 soldiers. Kouchner said he hoped a mission France had proposed to assist displaced people in Chad would move even more quickly than the deployment allowed by the U.N. resolution. EU foreign ministers asked the bloc's military staff last month to start detailed planning to help a U.N. police mission restore order and protect refugees trapped in eastern Chad and the north of the Central African Republic bordering Darfur. An EU official said it would likely receive full political endorsement from EU member states next month. Diplomats have said it could involve a year-long deployment of 1,500-3,000 personnel from the end of October.
